"It was really close," race driver Scott Pruett said after fully braking just before the plane would have passed. "If it had been a longer runway. ..."

"We're working on it," teased City Councilman Gabe Santos.

The Monday afternoon race at Vance Brand Municipal Airport was the culmination of an 18-month-old bet between pilot Marc Arnold and car dealer Kent Stevinson. Arnold, a charter Eclipse pilot who operates out of Vance Brand, saw Stevinson's red Lexus LFA at the Frederick dealership and began wondering what it would be like to have them take each other on.

"We should test that and see," Stevinson agreed.

Both Lexus and Eclipse knew a good promotion when they saw one, and the corporate offices quickly came aboard. But setting race conditions wasn't easy. Too short a course, and the car would be done before the plane could take off. Too long, and the jet's top speed of 400 mph would smoke the LFA's 202 mph flat-out max.

"My first thought was 'I don't know about this,'" Barth said. "We're shutting down the airport for a day and we have to get a film and motion-picture waiver from the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration). That stack of paperwork is as long as my arm."

But Lexus promised to make the film available to the airport for promotional purposes. In addition, Arnold and Stevinson had made a bet that the winner would donate $5,000 to the other's charity -- the OUR Center if the car won, or Veteran Airlift Command if the plane did. Lexus and Eclipse agreed to match that $5,000, and arranged that both charities would collect regardless of the results.

In other words, this was now a pride bet. As well as good advertising. Paul Williamsen, a national manager for Lexus, said the company planned to splash the race across its social media sites. Since there are only 500 LFAs in the world -- and even fewer of the special race-ready Nurburgring edition that Lexus put up for the contest -- it's not necessarily the sort of thing that would get television airplay, but Barth wouldn't rule it out.

"It would not surprise me if you turned on your TV in six months and saw it," he said.

Barth thought it would take six months to get the clearances. It took 13. Meanwhile, the conditions of the race were being determined. Arnold would be allowed to take off first and then circle back over the starting line, letting his plane begin the race at 150 mph. Then the Lexus, driven by longtime professional racer Scott Pruett, would hit the gas, race to the end of the runway, and try to make it back and come to a full stop before the plane could turn and cross the finish line itself.

Of course, the new model had only been in the country for a week or so, so it had to be broken in, especially for a race at altitude.

"So my awful fate over the last week has been to drive this for 1,000 miles on the eastern slope," Williamsen said, chuckling.

And, as it turned out, the airport was going to be closed Monday anyway. Beginning this month, Vance Brand is shutting down on Mondays and Tuesdays to build a taxiway extension; the work is expected to run into December.

It'll be four to six weeks before the city knows how much the event cost to put on. But Barth said there probably wouldn't be a bill presented; the charitable donations would stand in lieu of payment.

"This was more about doing good in the community than making a buck," Barth said.

After all the prep, it was finally over in one blue-skied afternoon, before an invited audience.

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